It took a few minutes to look over the small seating area across from the kitchenette, a small bathroom with a shower she doubted Viper would fit into. There was a small bed. She looked at it longingly. The ground had been very uncomfortable. She wanted to take a shower and crawl into that bed with Viper. It would be a while before they could do that. They needed to talk first. Callie went back to sit in the passenger’s seat.
“How are we doing on time?” she asked him.
“I’m not sure. It’s been maybe forty-five minutes.”
“When do you think we’ll stop and change cars?”
“I want to wait until it’s dark before we do that. Luckily, this thing has a full tank of gas.”
They drove in silence for a while. Callie was trying hard to find something that they could talk about. If she talked about the amazing sex that they shared would he think she was pushing for more? Was she? Wanting more from him? Maybe.
Callie would love to date him and see if this could lead to a future. She had feelings for him, powerful feelings. But was it something that developed out of extenuating circumstances? Once these rogues were taken into custody, would she still feel this way? Only time would tell.
She watched as the signs from the highway alerted her to where they were and where they would need to go. When he passed the route, she panicked. “That was the exit we were supposed to take.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, didn’t you see the sign for Route 78 to Arizona?”
“I… must have missed it.” His cheeks reddened a little, but he didn’t look at her.
“That’s okay, we can take the next exit and reconnect,” she told him.
The silence grew, and finally she had to ask that had been bugging her. “Viper?”
“Yes?”
“When you said that you don’t read, is that because you actually can’t read?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
Chapter 23
Viper worried that she would think less of him now that she knew about his flaw. Why had he told her? Because she asked and he would not lie to his mate—ever. He could feel her eyes on him, but he kept his eyes straight ahead.
“How is that even possible? You’re like… hundreds of years old, right?” she asked incredulously.
He hesitated to tell her what his exact age was. He remembered the other human mates had a hard time dealing with the age gap and didn’t want that to be a barrier between them. He focused on her original inquiry.
“I was born into a poor community outside the palace. My father was always off fighting in one war or another, rarely coming home. I lived with my mother and we helped work the farms to provide for ourselves. My mother didn’t have the means to send me to get an education, but she tried to teach me what she could, but I was too stupid to learn.”
“Did she say that to you?”
Callie sounded furious over that. “No, my mother was amazing and always encouraged me to never give up trying my best. She felt like she failed me. It was my father who said I was too stupid to learn from books and that my true worth would be as hard labor or as a warrior. When my mother died, my father couldn’t be bothered with the responsibility of raising me, so he took me to the castle when training for new warrior recruits began. He handed me over to Prince Reichardt and never came back for me.”
“What an asshole!”
She was furious on his behalf. Did that mean she cared? “It was the best thing that could have happened to me. Prince Reichardt and the other trainers never made me feel less because I couldn’t learn the written word. I excelled at my warrior training and I developed highly coveted tracking skills.”
“You did if you tracked me down. Wait, you said Prince Reichardt, I thought he was your king?”
“He became king after his father died.”
“Take that exit coming up. It will route us to where we need to be.”
Viper followed her directions. He was very impressed with her. Any other female would have been in tears by now, but Callie was proving to be a strong, calm, and helpful partner.
“Tell me more about the reading problems you have. I work with different kids and adults who have issues learning. I might help.”
“I don’t know.”
“Please.”
“Will you think less of me if your efforts do not make a difference?”
“Of course not! You are smart, talented, brave, strong, handsome, and sexy. This learning disability does not make you who you are, it’s only a part of you. Let me help.”
She sounded sincere, and she said he was sexy. What could it hurt to let her try? It would mean she would have to spend more time with him, and it would give him more chances to convince her to agree to mate him.
“Very well. What do you want to know?”
“First, are there words you can identify?”
“My mother first realized I had a learning problem when I was very young, around five. I had a hard time learning songs and I couldn’t remember things in the right order, like the letters of our written word. As I grew older, there were some words I could recognize, but often I confused the letters in words. Reading felt like a workout because I was so slow just to read a simple sentence.”
“It sounds like you may have dyslexia.”
“What is that? Can it be cured?”
“It’s a learning disorder that affects your ability to read, spell, write, and speak. Most who suffer this are very smart people. From what I know, it causes people to reverse letters and numbers
